


Take A Break

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Arrow/Supergirl crossover, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Discussion of character death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Multiverse Friendships, Oliver/Kara Friendship, Pizza Eating and B-99 Marathons and Ice Cream, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Episode 5x09, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 23:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8820079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: In which after the events of 5x09, Oliver is mentally and emotionally drained and needs somebody to talk him down from doing something stupid. Kara is that somebody.(A Kara/Oliver friendship fic with a dash of angst and lots of fluff)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I wanted to write an Oliver and Kara friendship but then 5x09 happened and I had a lot of feelings, and spiralled my way into writing this instead of working on my WIP fics. Judge me.
> 
> Posted this on Tumblr yesterday, somebody suggested I post to AO3.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

* * *

When Kara returned home to her apartment, exhausted after a hard day of reporting and saving National City once again, she did not expect to find Oliver Queen sitting on her couch, looking completely and utterly broken.

She was tired, having been woken up by Alex calling her at 3am due to a massive raging fire downtown at a factory. Supergirl had spent nearly seven hours flying people to safety, fighting the flames as she kept the roof of the warehouse collapsing down on the innocent people trapped inside, and then straight afterwards, she’d been sent to cover the story by Snapper Carr, walking around the burned remains exhaustedly, interviewing survivors and witnesses. Then, Kara had stopped two bank robberies and absorbed a bomb blast after some fatal experimentation within the DEO’s research and development department.

Arriving home early, at around six pm, Kara was fully planning on stuffing her face with potstickers and mint chip ice cream, and binge watching Stranger Things whilst wrapped in a blanket in her pyjamas. So walking into her apartment, switching the lights on and being scared to death by finding Oliver Queen slumped on her couch in his civilian clothes was not something she had planned.

“ _Oliver_?” she asked, surprised. “Hi! What are - what are you doing here? On this Earth? In my - in my apartment? Not that - not that I’m not thrilled to see you! You’re my friend, you’re always welcome here but - I just didn’t expect…” Kara trailed off her nervous babble when the archer didn’t interrupt as she’d thought he would, and he continued staring blankly down at the floor. Swallowing, Kara inched closer, her concern only growing when Oliver didn’t move instinctively in response to her approach. “Oliver?” she whispered. “Is everything okay?”

She became even more alarmed when he finally turned to her, and his usually strong, sharp blue eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed from crying, his face sunken in from sheer physical and mental exhaustion. Kara had never seen somebody look so broken before. And the fact that it was the unflappable, confident Green Arrow did not reassure her.

“No.” His voice was a croak, worn and weathered due to his tears. “No, everything’s awful.” Oliver looked as if he was about to start crying again, his entire body trembling. Slipping onto the couch beside him, Kara warily wrapped an arm around the archer in a hug, and exhaled heavily when Oliver just seemed to collapse into it, silent sobs shaking his body. “I’m s-sorry, I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t stay in Star City, I couldn’t even stay on that Earth, I used the little thingy Cisco gave me to get over here and… I’m so sorry, I know you’re probably busy, I can go -”

“No,” Kara shook her head, tightening her arms around him, not releasing him from her embrace. “No, you’re staying. You’re my friend, Oliver, I’m not abandoning you when you need me.”

His shaking seemed to worsen, to her horror. “I’m such a worthless human being, I’m such a burden, I can’t even - Prometheus was right, everything and everybody I touch dies, I shouldn’t be here, you’re going to get hurt because of me.”

“Oliver, invulnerable and bullet proof, remember?” Kara teased gently, rubbing his shoulder. “And that is ridiculous. You’re not worthless and a burden, you are a wonderful person and such an amazing leader, brother, team mate and friend. People in your life don’t die because of you, they receive a little piece of your light that makes their lives _better_. Whoever this Prometheus is - and that’s a terrible codename, you should get Cisco on that, even Winn could do better - he could not be more wrong.”

Oliver didn’t say anything for a moment, just letting his head rest against her shoulder whilst his breathing evened out. After a minute or two, he pulled back, angrily scrubbing at his wet eyes as he said in a shuddering breath, “I should go, I’m sorry -”

“Do you like ice cream?” Kara interrupted.

He sniffed. “Yeah. Who doesn’t like ice cream?”

“Okay, I’m going to grab ice cream,” Kara told him. “And lots of blankets, and maybe some whiskey for you if Alex hasn’t finished my secret stash for holiday parties yet. We’re gonna sit and watch some TV and if you want, we can talk about it. Have you eaten today?”

Oliver looked lost, like a child who wanted comfort but wasn’t sure whether he deserved it. “Kara, I don’t -” he whispered.

“Oliver, have you had something to eat today?” she asked sternly.

“No,” he replied in a small voice.

“I’m gonna order pizza,” she decided. “Stay _right_ there. Don’t move.”

Switching the TV on and changing channels so that Brooklyn 99 was on screen on low volume, Kara quickly ordered two large pepperoni pizzas and grabbed the half empty bottle of whiskey out of the cupboard in her kitchen. It was only once they were both wrapped in blankets, pressed into each other’s side and there was a glass of whiskey in Oliver’s hand that he began to talk. Telling her about Prometheus, about how he came to be, the elaborate plan the villain had created to destroy Oliver’s life. Barely keeping himself together as he informed her of how Evelyn, one of his recruits, a girl he’d started to see as his surrogate daughter, had betrayed him and the team. Almost sobbing as he described how Prometheus had staged Felicity’s boyfriend, knowing that the Green Arrow was out for blood, tying him up and dressing him in a suit with a weapon.

He was freely crying by the time he choked out, “I killed him, Kara. Three arrows to the chest. I killed Felicity’s boyfriend.”

Kara was stunned, and absolutely horrified, but she swallowed all that down and crushed Oliver to her chest in a hug again, whispering, “I’m so sorry.”

“I ruin everybody’s lives,” he sobbed. “Maybe it would just be better if I died, everyone would be so much happier if I wasn’t around.”

“Hey, no, no,” she soothed. “You can’t think like that, Oliver. That’s never the answer. You have made such a positive difference to so many people’s lives. Don’t think of the body count, think of how many people you’ve saved, how many people get to go home to their families because of you. Think of how Star City is a safer place because of you. You dying would be catastrophic. You can’t think like that.”

Her heartbeat increased with his words, however. Oliver pretty much sounded suicidal. She knew his backstory, Barry had told her briefly about how he’d spent five years in hell on a deserted island, being tortured and forced to do horrible things to survive. It wouldn’t surprise Kara at all if he were depressed. She understood the pressures of being a superhero, having people rely on you, the guilt when people you were supposed to save died. Half way through her first year as Supergirl, Alex had given her an anti-depressant prescription, and Supergirl had monthly meetings with the specialised DEO psychiatrist to talk through any problems or issues. If Kara had to guess, Oliver wasn’t seeing any therapist or working through any mental health issues he had. He probably wasn’t even properly aware that he had any, or if he was, his team certainly didn’t know. 

The pizzas arrived, and Kara was worried when Oliver hardly ate anything. He only took a few sips of whiskey as well. “If you’re not going to eat, you should really drink some more,” she said concernedly, grabbing some glasses of water for them both.

Oliver shrugged half-heartedly, “Can’t really drink much alcohol, messes with my medication,” he muttered.

“I kind of meant water,” she smiled, before asking cautiously, “What meds are you on?”

“Zoloft,” he replied. “It’s an -”

“Antidepressant,” Kara finished, offering him a supportive grin. At least he was getting his mental issues seen to. “I know, I’m on Zoloft too - well, the Kryptonian-strength equivalent of it. I wonder if it’s a common thing with us superheroes. You want ice cream?”

He just shrugged again. Kara determined that meant that he was indifferent, and wouldn’t mind. She scooped two large bowls of mint chip and dropped one of them into Oliver’s lap, slapping a spoon into his hand. Oliver began eating it silently, although he gave her a quick smile of thanks. He looked a lot calmer, and a lot more put together and stable than before, which was a relief.

“I feel so selfish,” he murmured, after they got onto their third episode of B-99.

“Why?”

“Everything went to shit back home, and I just ran away,” Oliver’s eyes filled with tears once again. “John was lured into a trap and re-arrested, so he’s unreachable now, Curtis and his husband had an awful argument because of his vigilante activities and Paul moved out, and Felicity… god, Felicity… She must be a mess right now. I can’t believe that I’m so self-centred that I’m getting so upset over this - she just lost her boyfriend, she’s mourning. If anybody should be here on this couch getting comforted by you, Kara, it’s her. She doesn’t deserve pain. But she seems to be the one who always gets hurt. I always end up hurting her.” 

Rubbing circles on Oliver’s knee, Kara replied calmly, “But she’s not here, you are. You’re allowed to get upset. Like you said, you couldn’t have known that it was Billy, you were played and an awful thing happened. And I’m sure you don’t end up hurting Felicity on purpose. You’re too good a person for that.”

He ducked his head, and snuggled up to her side, mumbling into her shoulder, “Thank you for being such a good friend, Kara.”

“You’re welcome,” she smiled, dropping a kiss to his forehead. “Look, I know it sounds pretty strange, and you’ll probably think it’s a really bad idea, but do you want to stay on this Earth for a few days? Like a sort of vacation? You could get away from everything happening in Star City for a while, and you wouldn’t have to do any mayoral or vigilante duties. You could just hang out here and relax.”

He instantly protested, just as she expected he would, stiffening as he said, “Kara, I have responsibilities on my Earth, I can’t just -”

“There’s a time distortion,” she quickly added. “Between my Earth and your Earth. I mean, Barry came here for two days last year accidentally, and apparently he was only missing from his Earth for five minutes or so. People won’t even know you’re gone.”

Sighing, Oliver seemed to think it over for a minute, frowning down at his empty bowl, but as soon as Kara hit him with the puppy dog eyes, he seemed to cave in, drawing the blanket up over himself and murmuring, “I guess a few days vacation wouldn’t hurt.” 

Thrilled that the archer had decided to stay, Kara gave him a brilliant smile and hugged him tightly, releasing with a quick apology when Oliver grunted, his ribs slightly bruised due to her super strength. “That’s great! You can stay here if you want, and we can go to the DEO and maybe we could do some training there together! I can’t wait to introduce you to everybody, you and J’onn, you two are so alike, and Alex, she’s my big sister, and Winn and James and Mon-El and - oh, we should probably check whether you have an Earth-38 counterpart just in case -” 

“Kara,” Oliver interrupted. She froze awkwardly. A grin spread across the alien’s face, however, when he just nudged her in the side gently and advised with a small smile, “Slow down.”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly. Taking his empty bowl, Kara offered, “You want more ice cream?”

“How much ice cream do you have?” Oliver frowned, not moving his gaze away from the TV screen.

Kara quirked an eyebrow. “I’m an alien and I require ten times more calories than the average human does. If I don’t have at least five tubs of ice cream in my freezer at one time… then I consider myself running short.”

To her surprise, Oliver chuckled warmly. “Then I won’t take anymore from you.”

“Honestly, if you want some more, that’s fine,” Kara assured, pausing before she added in a tease, “Although you’ll have to pay me back in donuts tomorrow.” 

“Deal,” he immediately agreed. “As long as you have all the ingredients.”

Taken back for a moment, Kara answered, “I meant buy me donuts, but if you’re going to make them from scratch then…”

“I can bake,” Oliver informed her. “And cook.”

“And already I can tell we’re going to become the best of friends,” Kara laughed.

The archer tugged her back down onto the couch beside him, pressing their sides together and resting his chin on her shoulder. Kara couldn’t help but grin - she knew it was because of the natural heat she radiated, Kryptonians having a higher body temperature than most humans. It was partly why Alex, Winn and James all fought over who got to sit next to Kara during movie nights. “I wouldn’t mind that,” he mumbled into her shirt.

Cuddling him to her side, Kara whispered, “Nope, neither would I.”

* * *


End file.
